Steve Bruce 'frustrated' with Aston Villa draw
A frustrated Steve Bruce admitted Villa lacked the killer instinct after they were held to a 1-1 draw by ten man Ipswich.
Bruce’s men dropped their first points of the season at Portman Road, despite playing most of the match with a man advantage after Tayo Edun was shown a first-half red card.
Jonathan Kodjia had earlier put Villa ahead with his first goal in nearly 11 months, only for Trevor Chalobah to equalise following a mistake by goalkeeper Orjan Nyland.
Edun was then dismissed in the 39th minute after being shown a second yellow card, yet Villa could find no way through and Bruce conceded his team had lacked urgency, as they missed the chance to open a season with three straight league wins for the first time since 1962.
“We’re frustrated because it was a great opportunity,” said Bruce.
“But really, when I analyse it, we were better against eleven men than we were against ten.
“We didn’t move the ball quick enough, we didn’t have enough penetration in the wide areas and we found it difficult to break them down.
“We didn’t do enough at the top end of the pitch, we didn’t move the ball quickly enough and we tried to complicate it too often.
“That gave them hope because the more challenges they got in, the more encouragement it gave them.
“I’ve been there many times up against ten men and the one thing you need to do is more the ball quicker in forward areas.
“We just didn’t do it well enough. I still think we had enough chances to win it.”
Bruce also backed Nyland to bounce back after making a costly error in just his second game for the club.
The 27-year-old, who joined in a £1million move from FC Ingolstadt, came for but failed to collect Jonas Knudsen’s long throw, allowing Chalobah to pounce.
“He’s made a wrong choice. He thought he could come and get it.,” said Bruce.
“The one thing he will learn in England very quickly is the physicality.
“You don’t get it so much abroad so you can’t always jump through people and win the challenges.
“He’s made a mistake, but he has good experience to deal with it.
“We’ll move on with him on Wednesday against Brentford.”
Villa sit fourth in the early season table and Bruce said: “In the first half an hour I was delighted with us.
“I thought we looked a very decent team first half. We’ve gifted them a goal and it gives them all a lift.
“Overall we have had a decent start, we know we need to add to the squad, though, and let’s hope he can improve.”
